Pakistan breakfast at Davos 2018 on February 8, 2018Truly independent and impartial the World Economic Forum (WEF) is not tied to any special interests or groups. WEF’s Annual Meeting at Davos presents a unique once-a-year opportunity bringing together the world’s most prominent politicians, Heads of State and/or government, business and industrial leaders, policy makers, academics and scholars, scientists, philanthropists, social workers, media personalities, […]
A polite ‘shut up’ call on December 29, 2017Alongwith one of my platoons, radio operator and runner, I was hugging the bottom of a steep ridge with Marri militants firing down at us on Dec 30, 1973 a few miles west of Kahan. The Marris thought we were trapped, their bullets were ricocheting10-12 feet away from us, luckily for us they had no […]
Forging a positive alliance on December 1, 2017It was a unique privilege (for many different reasons) to be invited along with a handful of senior media colleagues to attend the inaugural meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) under the theme ‘Allied Against Terrorism’ on Nov 26 in Riyadh. With the Ministers of Defence, Senior military officers of 41 Islamic […]
Combating corruption for good governance on November 10, 2017Transparency International’s (TI) 2017 report ‘People and Corruption: Asia Pacific” voices concerns across the globe about growing inequality, poverty and exclusion of the most vulnerable. As a diverse and rapidly developing region, “it is essential that the countries in the Asia-Pacific region achieve sustainable and equitable development — this can only be done by ensuring […]
The Balochistan disconnect on October 27, 2017On the evening of Oct 22, 2017 as I was entering Quetta Club with a CPNE delegation for a dinner hosted by the Speaker of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly Ms Rahila Durrani, my son Zarrar sent me a whatsapp snapshot of my three grandchildren in Halloween costumes from New York. By some odd coincidence fully […]
Bank failure not an option on October 20, 2017Over the years many developed economies with sophisticated markets and long functioning banking systems have faced significant banking crises or banking failures. The role of Central Banks is critical in not only preventing and pre-empting failures but acting to resolve matters should the bank fail. On the macro level banking failures can result in cyclical […]
The accused excused on September 9, 2017Those really guilty are shedding crocodile tears at the judgement pronounced in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, while laughing themselves all the way to their billion dollar sinecures spread all over the world. One must quote extracts from ‘Taking up the Sword’, (outskirts Press 2013) written book by security professional extraordinary Randall Bennett of the […]
Catch them if you can on May 10, 2017The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) mandated by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has commenced its investigations about the ‘Panama Papers’. History’s biggest leak ever included 215,000 confidential documents revealing financial and attorney-client information about scores of outright criminals, drug smugglers, etc, current and former world leaders along with their close relatives and/or […]
Justice served or justice denied? on April 5, 2017Among the decisions by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case last Friday was the verdict de-notifying three NAB regional heads. Strictly according to the rules of law, they had reason to give their decision, but the Honourable Judges could have equated the grey areas in the circumstances of […]
American economy on December 23, 2015The Federal Reserve of the US (Fed) raised its base rate for the first time in 10 years. More importantly, after the 2008 financial crisis, the base rate that moved to zero has moved above zero for the first time. This is a signal that the era of easy money is ending. The base rate is […]